Any tricks for stuck poppet valve?

[JOHN51277]

I have had 2 of them in the last day! I ended up with close to a gallon of barleywine. The whole garage smelled great when I came home from work.

I grabbed a pen and pushed down on the poppet after releasing pressure and then hit it back with some pressure and it seemed to stop leaking.

Anyone have any tips for keeping these leak free?

I always clean the hell outta these too with PBW and a old toothbrush.

I will check for cracks next time I clean them though.

 

[samc]

A bit of keg lube or vaseline on the rubber gasket. If that does not work it is possible that the spring has lost some of it's tension or it's not properly seated due to the tension or just not inserted straight. I've replaced most of the poppets in the kegs I bought and expect that those will last many years without having to think about them.

 

[JOHN51277]

The poppet has a hard plastic grommet under the metal piece. Atleast I think it is hard plastic. It could be hardened rubber and a reason I need a shot for this drip problem I have!

 

[BigdogMark]

It is important to make sure you have the right kind of poppet for the post. I have a mix of post types on my ball lock kegs and have found that the poppets are not necessarily interchangeable. Specifically, when installing the post, the poppet would never center up correctly because the tabs on the bottom of the poppet were not wide enough to guide it to the center of the fitting. I was able to adjust the tabs with pliers and get it to install correctly.

 

[InfernoBrews]

As Bigdog already said make sure you have the right poppets in there of your keg. if you got the kegs used and never changed them make the investment and changes all of the seals and what not and use keg lube or petro on them this will help prolong their life. And as far as replacing poppets the lil things are a few dollars but get the ones for your keg dont go cheap and go for the universal ones..

After i take my keg apart and put it back together i always seal it and bang it with co2 and pressurize it to make sure everything is sealing properly before putting my liquid gold in it!